Centenary Hall was buzzing with stories of the good old days from the members and guest of the Newington College 70 Club at the Annual Lunch held on Tuesday, 2 May.

The group started the day reminiscing in the Old Chapel with drinks and canapés to the tunes from “The Newtones” led by Gary Kingcott (ON 1957), Geoff Wilson (ON 1960), John Newton (ON 1951) and new member Rob Wild (ON 1965).

After a tour of the new Drama Centre and Tupou College Centre the group moved to the Centenary Hall where the chatter became louder and the stories became more colourful.

Rev Geordie Barham commenced the lunch with the “Breaking of Bread” Ceremony which has been introduced to the 70 Club formalities serving as an age old ceremony. The “Breaking of Bread” signifies the shared bond between kindred relationships and as the loaf of bread is passed around the table each person takes a piece and echo the words of the school motto ‘In Fide Scientiam’ – ‘to faith add knowledge’.

Chairman of the 70 Club, Gil Morgan (ON 1958) welcomed the members and guests that had travelled from far and wide to meet up for Newington Fellowship. Senior Prefect, Mitchell Long 2017 gave a speech evoking the Heritage of Newington and how he hopes one day that he will be attending a similar reunion lunch with classmates and continuing his fellowship.

Headmaster, Dr David Mulford kindly organised a musical operatic piece from Old Boy Leon Vitogiannis (ON 2016) that stirred the proud emotions of the Old Boys. Dr Mulford also presented a snapshot of the College Vision and where we are headed to in the future, all the Old Boys were suitably impressed that the College is in good hands.

Birthday wishes, stories from the past and rekindling friendships for the future is what the lunch is about and when it came to singing the College Song, Dear Newingtonia, very few members had to read the words. We look forward to seeing a return of all the members to the 20^th Anniversary 70 Club Lunch on Tuesday, 8 May 2018.