Congratulations to Ben Lewis (ON 1997) as the current lead role as the Phantom, in Her Majesty’s Theatre London’s production of Phantom of the Opera.  Ben’s first love was Rugby and wanted to pursue a career in cricket or rugby, instead has followed his parents lead in musical performance.  Ben’s mother and father are two of Australia’s most accomplished opera singers, Michael Lewis and Patricia Price.

When Nick Lee (ON 1967) called to RSVP to his 50 year reunion, he shared a little of his history. Nick spent his working life as a foreign correspondent cameraman for Sixty Minutes Australia.  Such incredible experiences have been documented in his book ‘All This In 60 Minutes’.  Nick has since retired and had the ultimate tree change, moving from Sydney’s northern beaches to the regional New South Wales town of Carcoar.  To read more about Nick’s story or to buy his book, click here.

Ibrahim Kasif (ON 2004) won a Chef’s Hat in the 2018 National Good Food Guide Awards for his restaurant Stanbuli in Enmore.

Brett Kensett-Smith (ON 1988) took out the coveted Big Brass Mug on Hard Quiz on ABC TV.   Brett won episode 9, Series 2 of Hard Quiz and his expert subject was Billy Joel.

Rod Stoddart (ON 1996) has been appointed as the first Head of The Scots College Brighton Preparatory School.  The School is due to open in 2018. Rod previously worked at Wyvern House.  Congratulations Rod and best wishes.

David McGonigal (ON 1967) has featured in the latest edition of The University of Sydney’s alumni magazine SAM, featuring his favourite things as a world traveller.  Click here to read more.

Michael Bosman (ON 2010) currently in his third year of a medical degree at the University of Queensland has been offered an exchange from Rockhampton Hospital to a hospital in New Orleans, USA in early 2018.

Makuach Maluach (ON 2016) has been offered and has accepted a Basketball scholarship at the University of New Mexico.  Makuach left Australia in August to commence his Freshman year and will play in their Division One team.

Congratulations to Nicholas Condylis (ON 2009) who achieved a First in his Masters at Oxford.  Nicholas was awarded the prestigious Peter Cameron Sydney Oxford Scholarship in 2016 to study Civil Law at Oxford.

In further news from Oxford, another Old Boy to be joining them shortly is Edmond Cheng (ON 2013) who has recently achieved a First in Economics.

Andrew Zhao (ON 2013) recently attained a high Upper Second in Land Economics at Cambridge.   He will continue at Cambridge studying Business Management.  He is currently on a paid internship with Citigroup in London.

Here is a story from Clive Woosnam OAM, former Newington Teacher:

A few months ago I was sent to Royal North Shore Hospital for a PET scan.  One of the radiologists turned out to be Andrew Cluff (ON 2000), who was possibly the best spin bowler in any Newington team I’d coached.  He told me about various other ONs working in the hospital, but I didn’t run across any of them until more recently.  As the stent in my bile duct was blocked, I had to undergo a series of procedures to remedy the situation.  They failed.  Eventually the Interventionist Radiology Unit was called in and the leading doctor came out to welcome me with open arms.  It was Albert Goh (ON 1989).  He had originally come to be interviewed by me for a scholarship as a Yr 6 pupil.  He had already been offered a full scholarship by his first choice school (SGS) but delayed accepting it until he had seen what Newington had to offer.  He liked what he saw and accepted our full scholarship over Grammar’s.  He was put in my House (Kelynack) and his two sons are currently in the same House.  He was an excellent student at school and a charming person.  He told me when he saw me at the RNSH operating theatre that the first thing he had to do was to authenticate my signature on the permission form.  He said, “I don’t even have to look at your signature – I can see it in my head.  After all, it was on the bottom of every Newington report I ever received!”  Needless to say, he fixed the stent problem, and the two expert surgeons I saw yesterday at a different hospital commented on the success of his work.

The ONU Alumni office is always happy to receive all kinds of news from Old Boys.  If you have a story or an achievement that you would like to share about yourself or a fellow classmate, please contact the office on 02 9568 9544 or e mail.