50th Anniversary Dinner A Great Success

23 March 2005

Excerpts from speeches made on the night by past students and teachers

Past student John Alexander

ROB MUNDLE'S SPEECH

NARRABEEN HIGH REUNION SPEECH NOTES

The first thing I can say in looking around the room is "Welcome to a reality check..."

MEMORIES OF SOME OF THE TEACHERS

Bill Toft. It's great to see Bill Toft here. He's now 80 but hasn't changed a bit. He was a wonderful maths teacher and an even greater rugby coach.

Jack Casey. Another good bloke who was remarkably fit. He was a competition diver. In First Year, when he took our co-ed class down to the surf pool at Narrabeen for swimming, he had a habit of doing handstands then walking all the way across the sand and into the pool on his hands. The young girls were impressed - the guys hated him.

Mrs Lindsay. She was a very popular science teacher who really knew how to hold the interest of a class. But she did go over the top one day when she blew herself up in front of us while soldering an empty petrol can that still had fumes in it. The burns were bad but she was soon back at school.

Joe Adams. Joe was our Tech Drawing teacher who went on to become a yacht designer of note. Among his many designs was the famous 'Flying Footpath', Helsal, which was built from ferro-cement. She took line honours in the 1973 Sydney to Hobart race. The latest news on Joe is that he is now in the Philippines keeping himself young.

JOHN ALEXANDER'S WELCOME TO THE STAGE

· John Alexander attended Narrabeen Boys HS from 1964 to 1967.

· John was a prolific sportsman while at school competing in Athletics, swimming, cross country, basketball, cricket, rugby and of course Tennis.
John was a class captain in his first year at school, an academic in subjects that included mathematics and chemistry and successfully obtained the Leaving Certificate.

· It was while John was at school winning School, Zone, Region and CHS State School Tennis titles that John's future was mapped out for him. His Tennis exploits are legendary.

· In 1968 his first year out of school, John was selected in the Australian Touring Team.

· This led to John representing Australia in the Davis Cup Team from 1968 to 1983 ( a remarkable 15 years!). John played as a professional Tennis player on the Pro Tour from 1968 through to 1985.
· In this time John was ranked number ONE in Australia 3 times. John achieved a world ranking of 8th out of 400 in Singles and 2nd in world rankings in Doubles.

· John won 7 world career Single Titles and 22 Double world Titles.

· John Alexander is ranked amongst the greats of Australian tennis with the likes of Hoad, Rosewall, Newcome, Roche, Fitzgerald and Laver.

· John now enjoys a successful career in marketing and Television commentary on Tennis around the world. A sought after critic by journalists and TV media:

WE WELCOME John Alexander to the stage