SCUNA history » Oyez » 21 September 1972
Official organ |
OYEZ1 |
21/9/72 |
Well, here we all are! (To quote that famous line).2 Having recovered from the AGM3 (?), we are all no doubt anxious to hurl ourselves body, soul (and voice) into the all-new SCUNA year.
Your new committee, as elected (?) at the recent AGM, is as follows (as if you didn't already know!)
PRESIDENT: | Richard Dixon |
SECRETARY: | Meg MacDonald |
TREASURER: | Henry Pritchett |
LIBRARIAN: | Debbie Martin |
NON-EXECUTIVES: | Keith Currie (Publicity Officer) Kathy Warth Gary Hovey |
This youthful and dynamic group met for the first time on Monday night and many bold and exciting plans for the coming year were brought forth and tossed about. For the present, however, in this somewhat hurried first edition of OYEZ, there are more vital matters to be dealt with:-
The force of the question mark after 'AGM' in the first paragraph is that it seems we haven't all recovered from the AGM. Could it be that there are still some people wandering around in a dazed condition in the vicinity of the Staff Centre4 or Chermside St, Deakin5? The most substantial evidence supporting this theory is that they haven't been seen since, particularly at rehearsals where their absence is most noticeable (funnily enough!) The 15 people left at Wednesday's rehearsal after the break had to listen to me reeling off at great length statistics which were interesting but disconcerting. Briefly:-
SO WHERE IS EVERYBODY?
I think it is fair to assume that with a concert so close (4 weeks away) and so much work yet to be done, there is no legitimate excuse for non-attendance at rehearsals other than sickness or things connected with studies (ie Tutorials). (As far as I know, only one person left on Wednesday to attend a tutorial!)
Until further notice there will be NO Sunday rehearsals! However, they may become necessary as the concert date gets nearer, so keep all eyes and ears open.
This is still under discussion pending hot-line talks between your committee and that of the CCC (Canberra Children's Choir), with whom we are sharing the program.7 It is most likely to be during or around the weekend of October 20/22 (ie commencement of SWOTVAC8) or the following weekend.
Parties are not normally thought of as tragic, but I have a terrible suspicion that the one held THIS FRIDAY NIGHT, 22nd SEPTEMBER at MY PLACE, 6A MACPHERSON COURT, O'CONNOR will be the first of a spate of farewell parties for various SCUNA bods who are leaving us to pursue careers further afield. This one is for Chris Martin (the BASS) who starts at Oxford in October. So bring your own (chairs + sit on the floor). Come after Belshazzar's Feast rehearsal, shopping, work or whatever,
See you then,
PS Please, Please, come to rehearsals!
Richard
1Tricky's Oyez, but I think it's Meg's handwriting.
2See Oyez ~13 June 1971 (Sue Baldwin) Note 2
3See Oyez August 1970 (Brown) Note 2 re SCUNA Annual General Meetings
4See Oyez 22 September 1971 (Sue Baldwin) Note 1 re Staff Club/Centre, now Old Canberra House.
5Chermside Street was a SCUNA group house - well, flat - originally occupied by Annabel W______ and Dorelle P____. When Annabel left for postdoctoral studies in Britain, Sue Baldwin moved in.
SCUNA group houses were eventful places - post-rehearsal, post-concert, in fact whenever. It would be lovely to be able to remember more about them than just the street names. Chermside Street boasted some memorable parties - cayenne pepper was once mistakenly added to the mulled claret (personal recollection); another time, a game of Strip Jack Naked came to an untimely end when a bottle was dropped and someone had to be taken to Casualty (hearsay).
Bremer Street, Macpherson Court, Mackay Gardens, Hann Street, Buxton Street, Scarborough Street, Wells Gardens, Boldrewood Street... Some of these became legendary while I was out of the country. I'm still frustrated when I hear them mentioned, not having any point of reference.
6This described itself as the first-ever Intervarsity Minifest, culminating in a combined concert at St Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne on 25 August 1972.
7See concert programme
8SWOTVAC: in the days before continuous assessment, there was a break of about 10 days between the end of lectures and the start of exams.
9This is a reference to the notorious Engineer's Song - the one that starts "An engineer told me before he died", which isn't the American Engineer's Song, apparently. You can go and look it up yourself if you're feeling particularly misogynistic.
Pub songs weren't my favourite thing about Intervarsity Choral Festivals, although I'm privileged to be able to remember how mortifying I found them via my copy of Lindsay MacDonald's I.V. Book of Pubsongs (MacDonald & Crints publishers, Sydney, August 1975).