Grant Jones Page 35

It was pretty exciting to go from a Third XV player at school to being teammates with a lot of the First XV players in the Whites Colts team the following year. Being at the Whites has not only let me continue to have great friendships with guys I went to school with but also form new ones with other Eddies boys that finished school in the years before and following me. A big part of the Whites are Eddies Old Boys which is something that I love being involved in.

The other big sporting love of mine is golf. It is something that I enjoyed right through my time at St Edmund’s and, following a break for a few years after school, it is something that I continue to enjoy. I was lucky enough to captain the ACT Schoolboys golf team in my last year of school and have also represented the ACT in senior golf since. While golf is an individual sport and I enjoy the challenge of it just being you against the course, it is team events that are the most memorable for me, which included winning the local A grade pennant flag with Queanbeyan in 2018.

I grew up with parents in the construction industry and swore it was something I would never do, I was that certain that I did not even do construction in my senior years at St Edmund’s and completed a Diploma of Agriculture when I first left school. However, I ended up doing a carpentry apprenticeship

Year 12 Retreat 2005

and working for some other local builders before joining the family business of DJ Homes in 2013, and have loved helping to grow the business in that time. It is unbelievable the amount of times being an Eddies Old Boy helps establish a relationship with someone in business who also went to the school. My brother Ryan also works in the business with me along with a number or other Eddies Old Boys as part of our team or as sub-contractors. We were really proud of being able to help out by building the ‘Eddies House Project’ which brought together the Eddies community to build a home that was then sold to raise money for what is now known as the ‘St Edmund’s College Canberra Foundation’.

Following the completion of the house I was asked to come along to a Foundation Committee meeting

and somehow found myself as Chair after a couple of meetings. I loved being able to give back to the College in that role, providing opportunities for others to get that same opportunity of the wellrounded education that Eddies provides. In my nearly 4 years in that role, I am proud of establishing a closer relationship with the College Advisory Council, the College itself and the Old Boys and Friends Association. While I stepped down last year knowing there is still work to be done to realise its potential, I know there are some really good people on the Foundation Committee who will carry it forward.

St Edmund’s College Canberra Foundation House

I am so lucky to now have three boys of my own and be supported by my wife Jayde. She really is the backbone of our family who not only does a fantastic job as a mother but also supports me trying to run a business and spending a lot of time helping the rugby club. She doesn’t even complain that much when I sneak out for a game of golf (or two) each week. For her sake I have entertained the idea of our boys going to school elsewhere but, like my mum knew back then, knows that our boys will also be Eddies Boys and I look forward to the next stage of my life with St Edmund’s as a parent.